JOB KIT
Prepared for
A Worker Who Need Not Be Ashamed
Copyright 2014 Worker Ministries ©
Trying to locate a job can be a very frustrating experience for new and experienced workers especially those who are suddenly dismissed from employment. Finding the right job requires a series of skills which, unfortunately, are seldom taught in school. Employees who are suddenly terminated due to restructuring and downsizing may have forgotten how to search for new employment.
With these situations in mind, we have prepared this job kit to help you. It consists of the following skills:
· Find Your Calling!
· How to prepare a correct resume’
· How to conduct a job search
· How to prepare a cover letter
· How to prepare for the job interview
· How to communicate during the job interview
· How to decide if you should accept a job offer
FIND YOUR CALLING!
Our desire is to help you find your mission in life and then locate the job that will enable you to fulfill your calling. For example, your calling may be to work in education. The specific job that drives the calling may be a teacher, a principal, a teacher’s assistant, etc.
To become a satisfied worker, you must first find that calling, the critical first step to joy on the job. Otherwise, we guarantee you will become a miserable worker.
To find your calling, begin by calling on God, through prayer, to show you your purpose for living because He made you for a specific purpose! You are no accident! Examine your skills, your talents. And, what would excite you about work? What is your passion? I’ve always wanted to be a ______________________________.
And, for further help locating your calling, we recommend you read
the book A Worker Need Not Be Ashamed written by Jim Hogsett. Based on his extensive work experience since age twelve, he provides additional information on how to find your mission.
We also recommend that you visit the US Department of Labor’s web site: www.bls.gov/ooh/ You will find the on-line Occupational Handbook which provides immediate free valuable information about every job in this country. Examples: job growth rates in future years, responsibilities, pay, etc.
This is important because if you find that few jobs will be added for a specific type of work, this means less people will be hired for that job and vice versa.
Warning: While our Worker Ministries’ job kit can greatly help you, job searching will require a lot of WORK on your part. It is never easy. If you are unemployed, beware of procrastinating because a job that is available today may be gone tomorrow!
When you use all of the skills shown in this kit, you will then be able to provide answers to one basic question on the minds of all employers: WHY SHOULD WE HIRE Y O U ? ? ?
HOW TO PREPARE A
CORRECT RESUME’
All employees regardless of age or experience should prepare a resume’ and have it available to quickly update before seeking employment. An individual often assumes he or she knows how to do this but without proper training and understanding of this important document, this assumption proves to be false.
WHY is the resume’ so important? Because it is like a photograph. It is a picture of your past work experience that can be valuable to human resource personnel and managers who are involved in the hiring process.
While it is important, we need to emphasize that workers often feel that the right resume’ is like magic! It will produce employment instantly! Don’t believe it! Preparing the resume’ is only ONE skill that is necessary when you are exploring job possibilities.
BASIC TIPS
Your resume’ should be typed using a computer (not typewriter) and should be done to attract attention in the first few seconds. After all, the employer will probably have read dozens before reaching yours.
But beware of using a fancy design since this is not needed if your skills and achievements will speak for themselves.
Your resume’ should NEVER exceed two pages! (Some employers like one page if this is possible.) Employers do not want to know everything about you – just enough to decide if you should be interviewed.
Do not use long paragraphs and sentences. Make it easy for the reader to see as much information in a short period of time as possible.
Now, review more specific requirements which will help you prepare or revise your resume’ as needed. An example of a well written resume’ is included at the end of this section.
STANDARD INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS
All resumes should be well organized and MUST contain the following information within the following proper sequence:
1. Career Objective – What is your goal? Why are you presenting this resume’ to a prospective employer?
2. Work History - This consists of a list of dated work experiences. These should be listed starting with the most recent job FIRST and then work backwards until you have listed ALL jobs since you began work. Do NOT leave out any job. Employers will be suspicious of any years not accounted for!
If you are creating a functional resume’, you should list your major responsibilities under the specific job. Each responsibility should be written in a brief sentence starting with an active verb.
However, a performance resume’ is highly recommended. When choosing this approach, you will list specific achievements. Key Point: Most employers are much more interested in your results than what you did!
Each achievement should be one specific statement about a result. When possible, show numbers such as dollars savings, percentages, or other such specific information to support and highlight the results of your work. Examples: Saved the company $75,000 after implementing a quality assurance program. Reduced turnover by 15% as result of improving job conditions including management-employee relations.
If you have worked as a wage employee, highlight any excellent safety record achieved such as NO accidents! (This is because accidents are a major expense to employers and they don’t like them!)
Continue to show any of this information under more current jobs you have held. Do not show any such details for jobs performed long ago. The decision concerning what are more current jobs is up to you but remember that you have only so much room if you are to have a resume’ with the right length.
3. Education and Training – Show a history of all formal education completions (high school, community college, university, etc.). When grades are outstanding, highlight these by showing grade point average. Also many employers are interested in development on the job. So, include any formal training received during employment including company sponsored courses.
4. References - Always enter the following statement under this caption: “References available upon request”. (If an employer should want these, you can present them on a separate sheet of paper but do not include all of this information in your resume’.)
OTHER RESUME’ INFORMATION (OPTIONAL)
In addition to required information, you have the option to create other sections to highlight other information. For example, a section on Technical Skills can be helpful when highlighting your computer skills.
A section on Special Recognition can be created to highlight awards or other kinds of recognition received during your career.
WHAT SHOULD YOU LEAVE OUT?
You should leave out any information that is completely irrelevant to the job for which you are applying. Examples: Age, date of birth, weight, health, reason for leaving the job, marriage or exam or business failures, etc.
Salary requirement should also be omitted as you will have ample time to discuss this if the prospective employer raises the question.
Unless you’re applying for a job a s a model or actor, photographs of yourself have no place on your resume’.
ONE RESUME’ MAY NOT FIT ALL PROSPECTIVE JOB SITUATIONS!
Keep in mind that it may be necessary to tailor the information which you show to the specific job in which you are interested. For example, if you have worked as an Accounting Clerk and Cost Manager and wish to apply for a Cost Manager job, highlighting your past achievements in the area of cost control versus a lot of information on other work might be advisable.
If you already know the specific requirements of a job being advertised, show through your experience how you meet such requirements.
For these reasons, you can create one basic resume’ on your PC and then copy and paste from this master so you can then change some content to match the specific job you are seeking. In this manner, you can create what is referred to as a targeted resume’.
TAKE TIME TO PROOFREAD!
We can not say it enough! Proofread! Proofread! Use the spell check on your computer to check for misspellings. But, remember that the spell check cannot detect the difference between the proper use of “two”, “too” and “to” so you still need to review each word. Check for the use of proper grammar.
OOOPS! WATCH THOSE COPIES!
It is certainly permissible to make copies of a resume’. But, this should be done on a printer which makes good looking copies!
KEEP IT ORIGINAL!
We have prepared a sample resume’ which is shown on the next two pages of this kit. A study of this along with the instructions you have read should enable you to develop your own resume’.
We have limited our example to ONE. This is because it is important to focus on creating your own original within the guidelines presented.
Remember, your resume’ is a picture of you, the worker, and not someone else.
A sample resume’ that is correctly prepared begins on the next page.
JIM A. HOGSETT
121 Avenue of Trees
Elon, North Carolina 27244
Home Telephone: (336) 449-5904
e-mail:
CAREER OBJECTIVE
To serve managers and employees in the field of training and safety for a reputable organization.
WORK HISTORY
1976 – 2003 Director of Training and Safety Management; Burlington Industries
Transportation Division; Tucker Street Extension; Burlington, N. C.
Major Accomplishments - B. I. Transportation:
· Established BIT Truck Driver Training School in our company enabling us to apply systematic training and, as a result, maintain low turnover (8%) which is far below the national average.
· Established programs and controls to bring B. I. Transportation into compliance with safety and environmental regulations resulting in zero fines and zero citations by DOT, EPA, or OSHA.
· Reduced accident frequency in 2001 and 2002 to lowest level in history of the organization through safety training and implementing safety incentives.
· Upgraded salaried performance evaluation program resulting in 72% of employees eliminating major weaknesses within a four-year period.
· Implemented systems approach to management training which includes use of training needs analysis, development of extensive curriculum consisting of courses and other approaches to meet different needs, measurement of results based on comparative analysis of needs shown on annual appraisals, etc.
· Designed and conducted Customer Service Workshops for all employees used to define the optimum level of quality service as applied to internal and external clients; 95.6% of customers have given positive feedback on latest survey conducted annually.
1973 - 1976 Plant Training Manager; BI Ranlo Plant; Gastonia, North Carolina.
1972 - 1973 Plant Training Manager; BI Robeson and Butler Plants; St. Pauls,
N. C.
1971 - 1972 Management Trainee; BI Oxford Worsted Plant; Oxford, N. C.
1967 - 1971 Industrial Education Teacher and Coordinator of Trade and
Industrial Education; Granville County Schools; Oxford, N. C.
Jim A. Hogsett Page 2
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Attended public schools of Vance County in Henderson, North Carolina.
Earned B. S. Degree in Business Administration with specialization in business education at East Carolina University (1967).
Earned M. S. Degree in Industrial Education at North Carolina A & T State University (1993). Graduated with 4.0 grade average.
TECHNICAL SKILLS
Specialist in hazardous materials transportation and handling and OSHA regulations.
Microsoft Word, Outlook, Powerpoint.
SPECIAL RECOGNITION
1971 - Outstanding Educator of the Year in Granville County.
1971 - Recognized as one of the top ten teachers in North Carolina as a state finalist for the Terry Sanford Award for innovative ideas in education and training.
Produced and directed filming of "Tarheel Wheels", a documentary on the history of trucking in North Carolina. This film was selected for the archives of the American Trucking Historical Society in Birmingham, Alabama.
Author of the book A Worker Need Not Be Ashamed which is concerned with the work ethic.
REFERENCES
Provided upon request.
HOW TO CONDUCT
A JOB SEARCH
After you have discovered your mission – your calling – it’s time to begin the job search. Warning: Do not get the horse before the cart or you will become perfectly miserable in your next job. Remember: Mission FIRST and job SECOND!
FINDING THE JOB TO FIT THE MISSION
Networking is the single best job search strategy:
· Start by making a list of all the people you know who either know or might know of someone who could be of assistance.
· No one should be overlooked. List school friends, co-workers, friends who recently changed jobs, friends at church, etc. etc.
· Make contact by phone and tell them in short: “I’m looking for a new career.” Ask them to help you. Keep notes and check back with them.
The internet has become a popular tool when searching for a job. There are many sites which specialize in listing opportunities. You can also click on Search and then type in a company name to see if they have a website and look on their website for employment section.
We would be less than honest if we did not emphasize that this is highly impersonal and you may be exposed to job situations which look good when advertised but which are not desirable. So, be very careful when using this medium!
Other resources include
· Employment Security Commission
· Employment agencies (beware of fees which YOU instead of the employer may have to pay!)
· Industry and professional journals
· Newspaper want ads
Newspaper advertisements are the least desirable medium when job hunting. Employers often advertise positions which do not exist. Their excuse is they need to know about prospective candidates just in case they are needed! Some use the blind ad method in which case the employer’s name is not shown – only a mailing address. Again, in this case, the job may not exist because the employer is trying to determine who in their own organization might answer the ad (a pretty sorry method for determining who and who is not a loyal employee)!